Golden Dawn
by blood-red-highlighter
Summary: It become Paul's Golden Dawn when Theresa kisses him. As he battles through his "bad boy" reputation at St. Anthony's, fights freezes and tries to keep his relationship with Theresa a secret from Tino, what suprises are in store for Paul and the War Eagles? TheresaxPaul
1. First Kiss

**Okay, so I wrote this cause I really love this story, and there's hardly any fanfiction on it. The updates will be irregular, because I'm a busy person and I'm not really supposed to be doing this. This is a PaulxTheresa story, which sounds weird, but I really like their connection. This story picks up on 4 December, where Paul has been called into Dr. Johnson's office.**

**DISCLAIMER: I am not Edward Bloor and do not own Tangerine or any of its characters.**

_She didn't really look at me. She came to the top of the stairs and said, "So there you are." I said, "Did they call you in, too?"_

"_No, not me. Just Tino and Victor. They're inside." "They are? I didn't see them."_

"_Yeah. They're in there. Dr. Johnson probably put them in the nurse's room. That's where they usually wait." "Oh? Why are you here?"_

"_Me? I'm always here early. For my job." "Office aide?"_

"_Yeah, right. That's me."_

_Theresa and I stood together, with our backs to the glass wall of the office. We stood for a whole minute like that, in silence, like two strangers waiting for the bus._ Then she broke the silence.

"Can Tino see?" I whipped around to face her, "Well, I would assume so, seeing as he doesn't wear glasses." I wasn't sure if she was trying to bait me or what.

"No," she shook her head condescendingly, "Can Tino see us now, where we're standing?"

I glanced around. I could see the white door of the nurse's office, but that was about it, "Um… no. Why?" "'Cause I've gotta do something he won't like." She told me. She had a glint in her eyes that I'd never really seen before. Something jumped in the pit of my stomach.

"It's not illegal, is it?" I asked nervously. My mom had had enough of her sons doing illegal things.

"No. Come here, Fisher man." Confused, I took a step towards her. "Closer," she told me. I took another step. "Closer." When I didn't come fast enough, she muttered something about having to do everything herself. Then she grabbed my shirt collar.

She dragged me forward, and pressed her lips to mine.

I'm still not quite sure what to think about everything that happened afterwards. The kiss itself felt good, I guess.

When she let go and pushed me away, my first thought was_ more. _Cliché, I know, but clichés are cliché for a reason.

Then she said, "Tino can't know." That kinda hurt, but I could see her point. I didn't exactly feel like having my face punched in.

Then she smiled, "But that doesn't mean it can't happen again." She continued, with an air to her voice that made it sound like she'd escaped Tino's wrath before. As it turned out, I was right. Go figure.

Overcome by some boldness, I leaned over and asked when she was free this weekend. She leaned over and whispered,

"Tino is way overprotective. When I decided that I was gonna kiss you, I told him I'd joined a drama group. Our practises are never consecutive, so if I call and say that I've got practise, he's gotta pick me up later than normal. Four at the latest. He ate it all up."

I was relatively impressed that she'd schemed this all up within a few days, and _seriously _flattered that she'd planned to kiss me. I didn't know girls did that.

I replied that I'd pick her up behind school on Friday, and she nodded. She giggled a very non-Theresa like giggle and turned to go back to the office, and then I remembered.

"Theresa, wait!" I called after her.

I yanked the report out of my bag. It was pretty good, laser-printed in four colours, with a clear plastic binder. I handed it to Theresa. She studied it silently, and then suddenly demanded, "Why did you do this?"

"What? Do what?" I asked, seriously deterred.

"All of it!" She yelled, her face streaked with tears. "Why did you come to my school? And come to my house to work? And make friends with my brother? And jump on some coach? Are you _crazy_? You messed up your whole LIFE! Did you know that?"

"You're not one of those guys," she continued with unerring certainty," You don't even _live _here! You live in Lake Windsor Downs! You're gonna go there for high school! You're gonna have to face them down! Tino and Victor don't have to do that!"

That wasn't necessarily true. I mean the part about high school. Although mom didn't know, I'd caught her sitting in the alcove, looking up the better houses in Tangerine. Now that Eric was in prison for a year, we didn't have to worry about his placekicker status, and mom was obviously not keen on living near the muck fire any longer than she had to.

"So why did you do it?" Theresa's voice broke into my thoughts.

I caught her arms, and looked into her eyes," Before I got here, I thought for a long time that the way out of the labyrinth was to pretend it did not exist, to build a small, self-sufficient world in the back corner of the endless maze and pretend I was home.** [All rights of that last paragraph go to John Green] **But now I've figured out what you have to do. You have to tell the truth. You have to stand up for yourself, because that's the way to escape this labyrinth of suffering. And you and Tino and Antoine and Shandra and Maya and Henry D. and Coach Bright and Luis and all the other War Eagles taught me how to do that. They showed me that I had a family, and people that I could rely on. I had brothers. I had a reason to live, to stop being afraid. You get me?"

I asked, staring at her. She nodded slowly. "That was beautiful. Look, I gotta go, but I'll see you Friday, okay? Don't tell Tino."

**Well, there you go! First chapter up. Please don't flame, but I do want creative criticism. Also, please tell me what other pairings there should be, and if Kerri should come into this story. Just to make sure, YES, HE DOES STILL GET EXPELLED and he still goes to St. Anthony's. **

**Please Follow, Favourite/Review**

**Blood-red-highlighter**


	2. First Day

**This part starts the end of the book, where Paul says, "The scent of a Golden Dawn."**

**DISCLAIMER: Edward Bloor owns Tangerine and all the characters. I own nothing.**

Wednesday, December 6

The first day of school. Take three.

When I arrived at St. Anthony's, it's pretty easy to say I wasn't impressed. The uniform was already annoying, and all the boys were standing lined up in the quad. Dead quiet. When I walked in with my tie loose and socks down, they all stared. Then the whispers started.

"That's _Paul Fisher_!"

"He was expelled from every public school in Tangerine County."

"He went out to fight the Freeze at Cruz Groves."

I wasn't sure _why_ that was important, or how they knew, but whatever. I didn't plan to stay here for long.

"He jumped on a coach."

"His brother murdered Luis Cruz."

That one annoyed me. These people never knew Luis. They weren't there, terrified of what would happen. Luis was not their personal property. He wasn't something you just _talked _about. He was a someone. And he was a person so good, so whole, that he should _never, ever _**be linked to my brother.**

"He was part of the War Eagles."

That shut everyone up. It was called out from some tall guy standing at the back of a row. They gazed at me- partly in something like adoration, and partly in fear. That was weird. Why would anyone be terrified of me, a scrawny kid with coke-bottle glasses?

Then another voice called out over the masses of boys, voicing my very thoughts, "Are you serious? _That's him?_ He's a nerd. I bet I could take him!" Don't take the bait, don't take the bait, you can't get expelled again, cried a small voice in the back of my head, but I didn't listen.

Something about going to Tangerine must have toughened me up, 'cause I called out, "Oh yeah? How many sinkholes have you crawled out of this year? How many soccer matches have you won? How many boys have you seen killed? _How many schools were you expelled from?_"

The boy seemed cowed for a minute, and then yelled out, "None! But at least my brother ain't a murderer and a thief! At least my dad ain't being sued by the county! At least I wasn't dumb enough to stare at a solar eclipse till I went blind!"

His tone of voice was so satisfied, like he thought he'd beaten me. But I walked towards him, and lowered my voice. I was seething. All this boy knew about everything that happened in Tangerine was what his Mommy and Daddy had decided was safe enough for his ears and then relayed it to him in the kindest way possible. That wasn't the real world.

"Oh yeah, Smart Guy. You think my family is dysfunctional? You think that you better than me? Well, think again. Erik Fisher is **not** my brother, in all but blood. My dad, in case you didn't notice, _wasn't _sued by the county. That was Charlie Burns. And I AM NOT THAT DUMB AS TO STARE AT A SOLAR ECLIPSE!" My voice had risen to scream. I completely lost it. All I was thinking was to make sure that this gut got his gossip straight.

"What is this?" A female voice called, "Where is the _order_?!" Everyone who had formed a circle around me and Tall Boy scrambled back to their positions, "Paul Fisher?" the voice called out, "where is Paul Fisher?"

Tall Boy and his friends grinned at me, like they thought I'd be scared. I walked up to the front with my head held high. "Oh, there you are." Her voice held all the relief of a mother with a troublesome two-year-old. Her eyes had crinkles around the edges, as if she smiled a lot.

"I'm Sister Mary-Margret. I'm the headmistress of this school. I understand that St. Anthony's is different from your last… institution, but in the morning, we expect the students to line up in their classes. This keeps the order. Now, you are in the second group of eighth graders. Will the Second Group Leader please stick up their hand?"**[Yes, this is Pinak from London Calling. I figured, why not?]**

An Indian boy stuck up his hand. It seemed kinda weird that he was in a Catholic school, but then again, so was I."Oh, yes. Pinak is your group leader." Before I headed over, Sister Mary-Margret gave me one last piece of information.

"The second group of each grade is the non-Catholic group. You find yourselves a classroom and socialize during mass and other ceremonies." I nodded vaguely. While all the other boys traipsed into the nearby church, Pinak lead us to an empty maths classroom. I knew it was a math classroom because of all the posters on the wall.

Then he spoke to me, "Right, well, I figure it's best to just sort out the rumors from the truth at the beginning-"

I cut him off, deciding to do a bit of a 'Tino' routine. "You figure that?" Pinak gulped and nodded nervously, "Yeah and maybe you could-""I'm not really in the mood for _doing _anything right now Pinak." His eyes were as wide as saucers.

Then I smiled. "I'm messing with you, bro. I understand that you want an explanation. What do you want to know?" He calmed down a helluva lot. "Well, I personally want to know _why _you jumped on that coach."

I didn't give him the deep meaningful explanation I'd given Theresa. I just told him, "The War Eagles are my brothers. Brothers do stuff like that for each other."

Pinak nodded like my answer made perfect sense, "Okay. Who wants to go next? Robert? Cool, you go." Some boy with mousy brown hair piped up, "Why do you wear glasses?" I sighed. This would be the first time I give anyone the _real _reason I wear glasses.

"When I was smaller, like, 5 years old, my brother thought I ratted him out for spray painting something on a wall. His goon pried my eyes open, and he spray painted my eyes until I couldn't see anything. Then he put out the story that I'd stared at an eclipse, and it just stuck."

Their eyes were so wide that it looked like they might pop out. Then the guy next to Pinak asked, "Do you have a girlfriend?" This seemed like a bit of a private question, so I answered as vaguely as possible, "No. Not yet, anyway."

"But you like someone," Pinak guessed with surprising shrewdness. I shrugged and then nodded, "Yeah, I suppose so. I mean, I kissed her once and we're going out on Friday." They all looked at me like I was stupid. "Dude, then you have a girlfriend. What's this girl's name anyway?"

They all looked at me expectantly. I glanced around, "Theresa Cruz."

They all gasped, "Dude. Damn. Dude. You are going out with Tino Cruz's little sister. Has he found out?" I shook my head, "Then I wish you luck, man. Seriously. He's known for being overprotective."

I replied, "She's his twin sister." And that was all that was said on the matter.

The classes were a bore. I had Pinak showing me around all day, and it turned out he was a bit of a wimp. He kept referring to the guys laughing at him as 'Lowery's' under his breath. When we left precalc, I finally remember to ask him, "Hey, what's that Tall Boy's name?" I asked.

"You mean the one you were talking to this morning? Oh, that's Gideon De Viler. You'll probably hear from him again today. All the shit at St. Anthony's gets dealt with at lunch. The nuns don't supervise us then _'Let boys be boys'_."

He attempted to copy the grandmother tone of Sister Mary-Margret. I grinned at him, and he grinned back. Then he seemed to remember something, "Hey! Are you going out for the soccer team? We need some serious help."

I shook my head, "I'm just here till the end of the year. Then I'm headed back to Tangerine. And, honestly, there's nothing that I can do to help ya'll. You guys suck to be beaten 10-0." We turned into the cafeteria.

"Hey, Fisher!" Gideon walked towards our table. The 'our' and 'us' being the non-Catholic boys, because the Catholic boys avoided us like the plague.

He leaned over the table. I could smell his stale breath in my face. "Scared of me yet?" he whispered. I temporarily wondered _why _I would be scared of him- he wasn't scary- before coolly replying, "In your dreams, De Viler."

He leaned back, looking smug, "My reputation precedes me. How lovely." Pinak butted in, "Not with your reputation!" But quickly quieted down again. I stood up and said, "You're really not as tough as you think you are. I could take you easily. The gangstas at Tangerine could beat you up easily."

His face contorted for a second before he replied, "You tripped off the bleachers and were expelled, Fisher. You didn't prove some hero move. Your buddies still got caught. Remember that." Then he stalked off.

The rest of the day passed without incidence. Mom came to pick me up after school. After doing the homework I'd been given I sat and played video games. Then mom came into my room with the phone. "It's a boy from the soccer team." She told me before leaving. She had a pile of legal work to do.

"Hello?" I called into the receiver. "Hey, Fisher man!" called Tino's voice, "Look, we never got round to tellin' you, but on the day after Christmas the War Eagles hold a party/sleepover thing at my place. We'd have asked you the other day, but then you got yourself expelled!" I could hear the smile in his voice. I smiled too, "Sure. I'll be there." He just hung up.


	3. First Date

**DISCLAIMER: Everything belongs to Edward Bloor.**

Friday, 8 December

The week passed smoothly. Pinak continued to show me around, I was continually suspiciously looked at, and Gideon de Viler continued to annoy the shit out of me.

Then came today, my first official date with Theresa. To say I was nervous? Was an understatement.

I kept imagining these terrible scenarios of Tino showing up and punching my face in or Theresa storming out to speak to her brother. I floated around school in this weird, dreamlike state I'd like to describe as HALF. HALF awake and HALF dreaming.

At some point in the day, I perked up. We were in Social Studies, and I was being briefed on a supposedly _highly difficult and taxing_ project. The project was 50% of our SS average, and 15% of our English. We had to ask our parents' permission first, and they had to fill out this form, then we were good to go.

I was ready to just **ask for the damn project**, when a weather report came on screen. Our teacher was playing it for the whole class. It described the tough freezes tangerine farmers in Florida went through this time of year.

It continued to show an almost-empty school which I recognized as my own. Well, Tangerine Middle. It talked about how the kids stayed out of school to help Fight the Freeze. It started to play some sort of track at the end, but Sister Lucy (The youngest of our teachers, and she was about 35) cut it off.

"We've been learning about the plantations all year. No you have to actually go out and work on one of them for a whole weekend. Then you'll write an essay about your experiences. Any questions?" She glanced around the room. I raised my hand.

"Oh! Paul! You don't have to take part if you don't want to. I understand that you've been working on other things this semester."

I had no idea what she was referring to, but continued anyway, "No, Sister Lucy. I wanted to ask whether, if the Freeze this weekend continues into school, we'd be allowed to stay at the grove and help out till it's over." The permission didn't really mean that much to me, but I figured that I should give everyone a heads' up.

She looked appalled.

"Well, I certainly hope not! None of the boys here come from a grove, and you'd all get frightful colds if you stayed for too long!"

I rolled my eyes. These people were sending out a bunch of pampered boys to work in the groves. They'd get colds anyway. It was weird to think that last year, I was the rich boy working out in the grove. That was by choice, though.

"I don't know where I'll go," Pinak confessed to me in lunch. Seriously. The whole thing was happening _tomorrow, _and he still had no plan. He suddenly swiveled around and stared at me.

"Hey!" he shouted, "Hey! You used to be in with that crowd! Do you know somewhere that'll take me in?"

I don't know what came over me, but I nodded, "Yeah," I said, "You can come down to Cruz Groves with me. They always need people to protect the Golden Dawns." He froze.

"Cruz Groves?" He asked, pale with fear, "The unofficial hangout of the War Eagles?" I nodded, slightly smirking, "That's the one! Will you come or not?" He gulped, opened his eyes, and shrugged his shoulders, "What've I got to loose? Except my grade." He said nonchalantly, but he was still shaking.

I replied, "Nothing." But in my head, and on this paper, I added, _nothing but your dignity._

After school, I changed out of my school-boy attire and into something more relaxed. A button-down shirt and jeans. I wasn't sure how to dress, I mean, I was just taking her to a coffee shop, but you could never be too careful with women.

Seeing as I wasn't 16 yet, and I didn't have a two-seater bike, I just walked there. I arrived literally as the last bell rang.

I hung out behind that area, where Tino, Victor and Henry D. couldn't see me until Theresa came running, and almost barreled into me. I put out my hands to stop her from falling.

"Hey," she said, gazing into my eyes (well, I think she was doing that. She might've been, like, staring at some vague thing behind me).

"Hey," I replied, somewhat comforted that she, too, had dressed nice. Well, nicer than normal for Tangerine or school.

I took her book bag. She tried to protest, but I just smirked at her. Then I put my arm around her and led her to our destination.

It wasn't particularly fancy or anything, but it had a good review, and was called _Tangerine Temptations. _It had this cool, golden-brown décor, and there were just sofas, no hard-backed chairs. In fact, it had a bit of a fortune-teller theme to it.

I ordered two plain coffees with sugar and cream from the barrister (named Cady) and went to sit down next to Theresa. She was looking around the place in awe. I said to her, "I gave them one of Luis's Golden Dawns."

It was true. I'd gone a few days ago and handed them one. Three days later, they'd surprised me with an answer. I'd recalled how Tino had said that Theresa was handling the 'business aspects' and thought that it would be a good thing to tell her on our date.

She looked at me levelly, "And what did they say?" Her eyes hinted that if they'd said something bad, I'd be the one to pay. Luckily, my news was good. I pulled out the papers they'd given me. Her eyes widened.

"No. Way. Fisher man, you know what this means?"

Her voice softened, "Paul, this is a _permanent _contract. And they'll give us a helluva lot of money for this!" She smiled, "Thanks." She bagged the papers, then leaned over and kissed me. Cady called our number, and I fetched the coffees. Theresa smiled at hers.

"I got you hooked." She told me, then said, "How that private boy's school of yours?" I smiled.

"We've gotta do this project where we go out and help Fight the Freeze, then write about it." She nodded, "Well, you're always welcome by us. Anyone else coming with you?" I nodded.

"This boy called Pinak. He's the best of the lot." I told her. We went on like that till she had to go home, when she kissed me again before she left.

All in all, I think it was a pretty good first date.

**Wow! 1114 words! I hope you enjoyed that piece of fluff! Pleeeeeeeeeaaaaaase Follow/ Favorite/Review. I'll dedicate the next chapter to you! {Bribery is crass, but works ;)} Internet waffles if you do! (#) (#) (#) (#)**

**Blood-red-highlighter**


	4. First Friends

**DISCLAIMER: EVERYTHING BELONGS TO EDWARD BLOOR**

Saturday, 9 December

Pinak and I headed over to Cruz Groves at 6:00 am. He was still jittery and terrified that they would bat the pulp out of him. I was getting ready for reentering the groves, which I hadn't been to since Luis died. Mom turned in to the driveway, looking extremely concerned.

'Are you sure this is the right time?' She asked, apprehensive, 'It's extremely _early _for a sleepover_.' _I didn't tell her that most of the War Eagles had been there from 9 last night, packing the Golden Dawns with dirt. I didn't tell her that we weren't attending a sleepover. I certainly didn't tell we'd be outside all night, Fighting the Freeze. I just nodded.

'Yeah, mom. We're doing this all-nighter thing, staying up from 6-6.' The lie came easily. I'd been rehearsing what I'd tell her if she asked. The truth was, Pinak and I were going to finish packing the last Golden Dawns, and then we'd catch as much sleep as we could until sundown. _That _was when this party started.

We climbed out. Both of us had a backpack, which didn't have much in it, but we couldn't make mom suspicious by not taking anything. We walked up to the Quonset hut, and I slammed open the door.

Victor stood up first. He walked right up to me, and said, 'Glad you made it, Fisher man.'

Tino came up behind him and commented, 'You sure you can make it? Seriously, Fisher man. I don't need no one collapsing out there again.' I smiled. This was the routine I knew, the one I fell into so easily.

'Not me you need to worry 'bout this time.' I replied, shoving Pinak forward. 'He's got a project to do, and the nuns are sending them out to Fight.' Tino looked him up and down, like he was trying to decide how much he could haul.

Then he said, 'Found you another fish, have ya? What's this one's name?' Pinak glanced at me, confused. _Another fish? _He mouthed. I shook my head, motioning that I'd explain later. Victor had, in the mean time, stepped up close to him, 'I asked for your name, Salmon.' I didn't really want to know how he'd come up with that one.

'P-p-Pinak.' He was stuttering and squeaking so hard it was a wonder that he even managed to say something.

'Uh huh?' continued Victor, eyebrows raised, 'And who am I?' I thought it was a bit ridiculous to ask him something like that, when Pinak replied in a much stronger voice, 'You are Victor Guzman. You play as halfback for the War Eagles. You go to Tangerine Middle. You made the All-County Middle School Soccer Team.'

Victor grunted, 'Salmon thinks he knows me better than I do myself. What did you do, research all of us so you could answer our questions?'

Pinak gulped. Knowing him, there was a high possibility he **had **gone and researched the whole team. I covered for him by saying, 'He showed up. You want his help or not?' All heads whipped to me. Instead of answering my question, Tino walked over and slammed me on the back. Victor proceeded to do the same, and soon, the whole team was practically on top of me.

'There's our boy!' Victor exclaimed when the whole thing was done. 'Never been suspended for a day in his life, and now he's expelled from **ALL THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS IN TANGERINE!' **His voice had risen to a yell, so it wasn't a surprise what happened next.

Theresa came striding in, slamming the door behind her. 'Really! Ya'll should be sleeping! We've got a long night ahead of-' she broke off when she looked up and saw me. She smiled. Then she glanced around and realized everyone was watching her, made a squeaking noise that sounded like a dying mouse, turned on her heel and fled.

Our eyes remained on the door for a second longer, hen Tino said, 'She's been all weird lately. Never stays in the same room as me, blushes randomly, and yesterday she came home from a coffee shop she'd _never _talked about before with permanent deal forms. I dunno what's going on.'

Maya, who I hadn't noticed before called out, 'It's obvious, isn't it? _Theresa's got a boy-friend!' _She sang, at the top of her lungs. Tino's face contorted with fury. 'So you're saying that she's acting like a nut because she's got her tongue down some idiot's throat when I'm not around?' Maya nodded.

'Well, it's obvious, isn't it? She blushes when she thinks about him. She runs out of the room so the subject doesn't come up. And he took her to the coffee shop- which is called Tangerine Temptations, by the way- and must've gone before to give them the Golden Dawn, which means it's someone in our group, because you're the only ones who a) have access to the fruit and b) know how much it means to her. So, well done to whoever is her boyfriend.'

All the guys were being death glared by Tino, 'If I figure it out,' he began, 'You are so dead.'

When we woke up at 5 o' clock, the temperature was already dropping. Tino dished out gloves while briefing us, 'Okay, there's my team. Fisher man, Salmon, Henry D., and the rest of you lot,' he pointed to the left side of the room, are with me. Victor's leading the other team. Everyone else is with him. We're gonna do like always. My daddy and Theresa are out in the new grove, runnin' the pumps. Uncle Charlie is in the Cleopatra grove, starting the fire. We're gonna haul brush for Cleopatra and chop ice off trees. In the rest of the time, we're gonna pack the Golden Dawns.'

'Time and temperature,' he reminded us, 'the temperatures at thirty-nine. If it gets to twenty-one, and stays, we call it quits.' He held out his gloved hand, and we all smacked it. 'Get going,' he told us, and our huddle evaporated.

It was a lot like last time. We were constantly in motion, running from one grove to the next, starting fires, packing dirt, chopping ice. Crisis after crisis. And the temperature went down. Down, to twenty-eight, twenty-seven, twenty-six. Time passed until it was all just a blur. At some point in the evening, I wound up alone with Theresa in the new grove.

'It's not a grove anymore,' she whispered softy to me, 'It's a grave.' And she was right. We couldn't tell how much was dead, just that it was. I whispered back, 'But dawn will bring new life.' She smiled down at me, where I was chopping ice, 'Yeah, but then there's another night.' She sighed.

'We'll make it. We always do.' Her voice was soft. 'It just doesn't feel like it at two in the morning.' I briefly registered the time. She leaned down to kiss me. 'Its friends like you who make it all possible.'

I stood up. 'Just friends?' She smiled at me. 'Well, maybe something more,' she replied.

I kissed her.

We were well on the way to a full-blown make out, when there were footsteps behind us, and a horribly familiar voice yelled, 'OH! SHIT!'


End file.
